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Source/Credit: Radio Australia | News
By Radio Australia | August 17, 2011
Indonesia celebrates its 66th anniversary of independence from Dutch rule on Wednesday.
In a national address, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono defended the mainly Muslim country's reputation for pluralism and tolerance, while accepting it was facing "threats" to religious and social harmony.
The comments came as his administration faces growing criticism over its failure to respond to a spate of attacks on religious minorities.
Presenter: Alma Mistry
Speaker: Nurkholis Hidayat,Director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute; Andreas Harsono, consultant, Human Rights Watch Indonesia
MISTRY: Deden Sudjana's hand was almost severed by a machete as he attempted to stop an angry mob who were attacking an Ahmadiyah home in Indonesia's Banten Province in February. Last month 12 villagers were given sentences in the Banten district court ranging from three to six months in jail, for their involvement in the attack .
Despite video footage showing at least one of the accused bashing a man's head with a rock, prosecutors didn't seek murder or manslaughter charges.
Today the same court found Deden Sudjana guilty of ignoring police orders to evacuate, because he was one of a handful of Ahmadiyah members who tried to stop the 1000 strong crowd as it attacked the house . He was sentenced to 6 months in prison.
Nurkholis Hidayat is the Director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute and is Mr Sudjana's lawyer.
HIDAYAT:Even Deden at the end of the trial he asked "Who is more dangerous? Me or the attackers who killed my friends and even myself he said.
MISTRY: To those familiar with the case the verdict was not surprising. Andreas Harsono is a consultant for Human Rights Watch in Indonesia. He says the panel of three judges were focused solely on Mr Sudjana's faith.
HARSONO: They did not try to ask about material evidence for instance but they were busy questioning his faith, his Ahmayiyah organisation. They are also believing he was there to provoke the violence.
MISTRY: Lawyer Nurkholis Hidayat says the case shows how hard it is for minority groups to get a fair hearing in Indonesia.
HIDAYAT: The verdicts show us about the discriminations of the judicial process of Indonesia especially to the minority groups ya. All of the considerations of the judges, they couldn't objectively see the facts of the law.
MISTRY: Deden Sudjana's legal team has a week to file an appeal. But he's told Mr Hidayat that after the trauma of the attack and months of legal battles, he's lost faith in the process.
HIDAYAT: Deden has said to me that he quite tired and like he couldn't believe that the process will bring justice and that it will be impartial, even in the appeal steps or in the Supreme Court.
MISTRY: Andreas Harsono has been following the case since it began and helped publicise the graphic videos of the attack, on the internet. To him the attitudes of the trial judges is another example of entrenched discrimination towards religious minorities in Indonesia
HARSONO: The verdict yesterday show very well that they cannot get over from their bias. They are Muslim first and judges later.
MISTRY: A day after the verdicts were handed down, the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in an Independence Day speech, hailed the country's pluralism. While he acknowledged "challenges" he said Indonesia was a country that is "able to live with pluralism." But Andreas Harsono says attacks on minorities, including Christians and Ahmadis are getting more frequent. And he says President Yudhoyono doesn't appear to take the issue very seriously.
HARSONO: He sees religious violence as a conflict management issue that you know this group is against the Ahmadiyah and this group is a minority and that's why the conflict should be managed by sentencing both of them six month, balanced. This is the way he sees it. If he sees it as a religious violence, religious freedom, even one single person whose faith is being repressed then he should defend that one single person.
Listen: Windows Media: http://www.abc.net.au/ra/connectasia/stories/m2020269.asx
Read original post here: Indonesia marks 66 years of independence
http://tribune.com.pk/story/233544/delusion-denial-and-dr-liaquat/
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